Striking down the silence of sex abuse

November 14, 2013 — 3.00am

The Victorian joint parliamentary committee's report into child sex abuse marks a watershed moment for our community. With an unwavering eye on the rights and needs of victims, the committee has peeled away layers of secrecy imposed by perpetrators of sexual abuse and by the non-government organisations which, for decades, did nothing about it. The committee members should be congratulated. Their report is deeply respectful, insightful and measured while traversing awful and confronting evidence of abuse.

This report should change us and the way our community lives. If, as we urge, the government adopts the proposed reforms, protective measures would be strengthened and victims' avenues for redress improved. For example, anyone who conceals abuse or fails to report it would be criminally liable; an officer of an organisation who puts a child at risk or fails to take reasonable steps to protect a child, knowing there is risk, may be held criminally liable for endangering the child's welfare. There is also a proposal to review the Wrongs Act to make organisations directly liable for criminal acts of abuse by employees.

These are important proposals because they go beyond staff selection procedures (such as compulsory checks on employees who will work with children) and impose an enduring duty on organisations to stay alert to the potential for abuse.

The inquiry has offered a glimpse into the unfathomable hurt wrought on several thousands of people in this state whose lives were damaged by sexual abuse. It has also highlighted the utter disregard some organisations demonstrated for those same victims' rights, in particular the shameful conduct of the Catholic Church. That organisations as rich and powerful as the church ignored victims' complaints, deliberately obfuscated or denied the wrongdoing of criminals in their ranks, almost defies belief today. That the church spends millions of dollars trying to beat down victims' damages claims is simply reprehensible.

Certainly, the community's comprehension of sexual abuse - its prevalence, the nature of its damage and how it is perpetrated - has improved greatly in the past two decades. But considering how many similar inquiries into widespread sexual abuse have been conducted elsewhere - in Ireland, the United States, Canada and the Philippines, for example - the church should have been far more open, generous and conciliatory. Even now, in the view of committee member and Liberal MP Andrea Coote, the Catholic Church seems to view this appalling scandal as little more than a ''short-term embarrassment''.

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It is, in fact, a disgrace of enormous proportions. The number of Catholic priests and brothers who have been hauled before courts, here and interstate, on sex abuse charges is extraordinary. The committee says there is ''credible evidence'' that the long-serving former Catholic archbishop of Melbourne, Frank Little, and former Bishop of Ballarat Ronald Mulkearns knew that priests in their dioceses had sexually abused children, but they ''tried to quarantine such information as far as possible''. It says the church deliberately did not keep files about abuse allegations and, rather than aiding victims, church leaders ''sought to protect the organisation and the perpetrators''.

How did the Catholic Church, buffered by ranks of well-paid lawyers and advisers, become so focused on protecting its reputation and guarding its financial fortune that its leaders so comprehensively failed to act with moral authority? In hiding sex abuse allegations and shuffling the perpetrators elsewhere, the church's leaders effectively facilitated further wrongdoing. Their actions delayed any prospect of justice.

While most of the inquiry's evidence related to two organisations (the Catholic Church and the Salvation Army), the committee suspects there is a ''hidden problem of abuse'' in many organisations - Jewish and Islamic institutions, sporting and social organisations. It is the community trust these groups engender, their hierarchical nature, even their teachings, that may inadvertently foster predatory environments.

Premier Denis Napthine paid tribute to predecessor Ted Baillieu for initiating the inquiry, and rightly so. His decision to forge ahead helped precipitate the Royal Commission on a national level. The Age initially was deeply sceptical about the scope and likely rigour of the Victorian inquiry. We suggested ''that a parliamentary committee with multiple responsibilities and a brief to report within 12 months cannot expect to deal with the magnitude of the problem''. Our concerns were misplaced.

Australians will learn more awful truths about child sex abuse through the McClellan Royal Commission, but as the chairwoman of the Victorian inquiry, Georgie Crozier, says, this one ''marks the beginning''. It opens the door and provides a path for progress. It deftly describes patterns of failure, and proposes legal and structural reforms aimed at assisting victims and providing better protection.